Question 7: How do I prepare a student or team to participate in international missions?

Answer:

There is no one right answer to this question. Below are some suggestions for preparing a team of students to be on mission internationally.

• Pray daily for the team’s spiritual, emotional and physical preparation.
• Make initial contact with the team members. (Team members should be selected at least three months prior to the start of the project.)
• Contact your team members at least twice a month, if not more often.
• Communicate with your team about any project details that are shared from the field or IMB Student Mobilization Team.
• Keep up-to-date on your country’s news by reading newspapers, watching news reports and looking up information on the Internet.
• Continue to teach the team members about God’s passion for the nations through Bible study. Click here for Jeff Lewis’ God’s Heart for the Nations Bible study.

Other excellent resources are Let the Nations Be Glad by John Piper, God’s Renown by Mike Stroope, Unveiled at Last by Bob Sjogren and “Becoming a World Christian” learning modules on The Traveling Team’s Web site.

• Remind your team that personal spiritual preparation cannot be ignored. The resources listed above provide an excellent personal study for students preparing for international service.
• Encourage your students to research and pray for the people group they will serve and the country and region. Click here for recommended people group and atlas references.
• Help the students prepare culturally and physically by using the Prepare to Go manual designed by the Student Mobilization Team. This brief manual is an in-a-nutshell cultural preparation guide for students.
• Broaden your team’s understanding of how to be a courteous and considerate guest both in a host culture and a host home.
  1. Encourage your team members to take individual gifts or a team gift to your missionary hosts and children.
  2. Ask your missionary hosts about the house rules when your team first arrives. For example, some rooms in the house may be off limits to food and drink. Help your team keep one another accountable to following the house rules and thereby respecting your hosts.
  3. Be aware that American food items are often not available in other countries or, if available, they are very expensive import items. Raiding the refrigerator and eating the missionaries’ “stash” of American candy or other Western-type food items (like cheese, Dr. Pepper and American chocolate) can really disappoint a missionary family who has rationed those items to last throughout their term on the field.
  4. Ask your missionary hosts what American items you can bring to them that are not available in their country or city. Food items such as seasoning packets, Kool-Aid and muffin mixes are usually popular among missionaries.
  5. Be aware, if your team lives with your missionary hosts, that guests require a lot of extra work. Encourage your team members to help with K.P. duty, including meal preparation, to lighten the workload for your hosts and any house help they might have.
  6. Be considerate of the house rules and bedtimes of your hosts, especially those who have children. Keep the noise level low after the family’s bedtime.
• Work through the following logistical items with your team:
  1. Make sure each team member has a passport that is current six months beyond the date s/he returns to the United States.
  2. Make sure to contact the travel agent assigned by the Student Mobilization Team. If you encounter problems with the travel agency, please notify the Student Mobilization Team (1-800-789-4693 or isd.student@imb.org).
  3. Send a copy of the team’s travel itinerary to the IMB’s Student Mobilization Team. The Student Mobilization Team must have the team’s travel itinerary in order to ensure that someone is at the airport to pick up the team once you arrive on the field.
  4. If a visa is required for the country of service, make sure the team members know when to send their passports to the travel agent in order to get the required visa. The travel agent will tell the team leader when to send passports. Verify with your field supervisor the information that the travel agent gives you about visas to your country of service.
  5. Set a timeline with the team for getting immunizations. Some immunizations require a series of shots with a certain number of weeks between each shot. Taking several inoculations at one time can make a person feel unwell for a day or two, so spacing out the shots is not only required for some vaccinations but just plain helpful.
  6. Assist your team with insurance.

  1. Adams and Associates provides excellent international coverage for $1.80 to $2 per day. The Student Mobilization Team requires all students and student leaders serving through the IMB to have this coverage.
  2. A team leader can complete the insurance information for the entire team. Please make sure that each team member lists a beneficiary on the insurance form. Beneficiary information is not optional as the form indicates.